L88'9 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


INTERNATIONAL  AMERICAN  CONFERENCE. 


OPENING  AND  CLOSING  ADDRESSES 


BY 


James    G.    Blaine, 

President    of   the    Conference. 


OCTOBER   2,  fSSg,    AND    APRIL    /g,    ,S9o. 


WASHINGTON : 

DEPARTMENT    OF    STATE. 

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OPENING    ADDRESS, 

Delivered  in  the  Diplomatic  Room  of  the  Department  of  State, 

October  2,  1889. 


Gentlemen  of  the  International  Ameri- 
can Conference  :  Speaking  for  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States,  I  bid  you  welcome 
to  this  Capital.  Speaking  for  the  People  of 
the  United  States,  I  bid  you  welcome  to  every 
section  and  to  every  State  of  the  Union.  You 
come  in  response  to  an  invitation  extended 
by  the  President  on  the  special  authorization 
of  Congress.  Your  presence  here  is  no  ordi- 
nary event.  It  signifies  much  to  the  People 
of  all  America  to-day.    It  may  signify  far  more 

Em 

in  the  days  to  come.  No  Conference  of  na- 
tions  has  ever  assembled  to  consider  the 
welfare  of  territorial  possessions  so  vast  and 
to  contemplate  the  possibilities  of  a  future  so 


great    and    so    inspiring.     Those    now    sitting 
within    these    walls  are    empowered   to    speak 
for    nations    whose    borders   are    on    both   the 
great  oceans,  whose  northern  limits  are  touched 
by  the  Arctic  waters  for  a  thousand  miles  be- 
yond the   Straits  of   Behring,  whose   southern 
extension   furnishes   human  habitations  farther 
below   the  equator  than  is   elsewhere  possible 
on  the  globe.     The  nations   here  represented 
fall  but  little  short  of  twelve  millions  of  square 
miles    in   their    aggregate    territorial  extent, — 
more  than  three  times  the  area  of  all  Europe, 
and  but  little  less  than  one-fourth  part  of  the 
globe;  while  in   respect  to  the  power  of  pro- 
ducing the  articles  which  are  essential  to  human 
life,  and  those  which  minister  to  life's  luxury, 
they  constitute  even  a  larger  proportion  of  the 
entire  world.     These  great  possessions  to-day 
have  a    population    approaching  one   hundred 
and  twenty  millions  ;  but  if  peopled  as  densely 


5 


as   the  average   of  Europe,   the   total   number 
would  exceed  one  thousand  millions. 

While  considerations  of  this  character  must 
inspire  Americans,  both  South  and  North,  with 
the  liveliest  anticipations  of  future  grandeur  and 
power,   they   must   also   impress    them   with   a 
sense  of  the  gravest  responsibility  touching  the 
character  and  development  of  their  respective 
nationalities.      The   delegates   whom  lam  ad- 
dressing  can  do  much   to  establish  permanent 
relations  of  confidence,  respect,  and  friendship 
between    the    nations    which    they    represent. 
They  can  show  to  the  world  an   honorable  and 
peaceful   conference   of   eighteen    independent 
American  Powers,   in  which  all  shall  meet  to- 
gether on  terms  of  absolute  equality  ;    a  con- 
ference in  which  there  can   be   no  attempt  to 
coerce  a  single  delegate  against  his  own  con- 
ception of  the  interests  of  his  nation;  a  confer- 
ence which  will  permit  no  secret  understanding 


on  any  subject,  but  will  frankly  publish  to  the 
world  all  its  conclusions;  a  conference  which 
will  tolerate  no  spirit  of  conquest,  but  will  aim 
to  cultivate  an  American  sympathy  as  broad  as 
both  continents ;  a  conference  which  will  form 
no  selfish  alliance  against  the  older  nations 
from  which  we  are  proud  to  claim  inheritance ; 
a  conference,  in  fine,  which  will  seek  nothing, 
propose  nothing,  endure  nothing  that  is  not  in 
the  general  sense  of  all  the  delegates  timely 
and  wise  and  peaceful. 

And  yet  we  can  not  be  expected  to  forget 
that  our  common  fate  has  made  us  inhabitants 
of  the  two  continents  which,  at  the  close  of  four 
centuries,  are  still  regarded  beyond  the  seas  as 
the  new  world.  Like  situations  beget  like  sym- 
pathies and  impose  like  duties.  We  meet  in 
the  firm  belief  that  the  nations  of  America 
ought  to  be  and  can  be  more  helpful,  each  to 
the  other,  than  they  now  are,  and  that  each  will 


find  advantage  and  profit  from  an  enlarged 
intercourse  with  the  others. 

We  believe  that  we  should  be  drawn  to- 
gether more  closely  by  the  highways  of  the  sea, 
and  that  at  no  distant  day  the  railway  systems 
of  the  North  and  South  will  meet  upon  the 
Isthmus  and  connect  by  land  routes  the  politi- 
cal and  commercial  capitals  of  all  America. 

We  believe  that  hearty  cooperation,  based 
on  hearty  confidence,  will  save  all  American 
states  from  the  burdens  and  evils  which  have 
long  and  cruelly  afflicted  the  older  nations  of 
the  world. 

We  believe  that  a  spirit  of  justice,  of  com- 
mon and  equal  interest,  between  the  American 
states,  will  leave  no  room  for  an  artificial  bal- 
ance of  power  like  unto  that  which  has  led  to 
wars  abroad  and  drenched  Europe  in  blood. 

We  believe  that  friendship,  avowed  with 
candor   and    maintained   with   good    faith,    will 


8 

remove  from  American  states  the  necessity 
of  guarding  boundary  lines  between  themselves 
with  fortifications  and  military  force. 

We  believe  that  standing  armies,  beyond 
those  which  are  needful  for  public  order  and 
the  safety  of  internal  administration,  should 
be  unknown  on  both  American  continents. 

We  believe  that  friendship  and  not  force, 
the  spirit  of  just  law  and  not  the  violence  of 
the  mob,  should  be  the  recognized  rule  of  ad- 
ministration between  American  nations  and  in 
American   nations. 

To  these  subjects,  and  those  which  are  cog- 
nate thereto,  the  attention  of  this  Conference 
is  earnestly  and  cordially  invited  by  the  Gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States.  It  will  be  a 
great  gain  when  we  shall  acquire  that  common 
confidence  on  which  all  international  friend- 
ship must  rest.  It  will  be  a  greater  gain  when 
we   shall    be   able    to    draw    the    people  of  all 


American  nations  into  closer  acquaintance  with 
each  other,  an  end  to  be  facilitated  by  more 
frequent  and  more  rapid  intercommunication. 
It  will  be  the  greatest  gain  when  the  personal 
and  commercial  relations  of  the  American 
states,  South  and  North,  shall  be  so  developed 
and  so  regulated  that  each  shall  acquire  the 
highest  possible  advantage  from  the  enlight- 
ened and  enlarged  intercourse  of  all. 

Before  the  Conference  shall  formally  enter 
upon  the  discussion  of  the  subjects  to  be  sub- 
mitted to  it,  I  am  instructed  by  the  President 
to  invite  all  the  delegates  to  be  the  guests  of 
the  Government  of  the  United  States  during  a 
proposed  visit  to  various  sections  of  the  coun- 
try, with  the  double  purpose  of  showing  to  our 
friends  from  abroad  the  condition  of  our  coun- 
try, and  of  giving  to  our  own  people,  in  their 
own  homes,  the  privilege  and  pleasure  of  ex- 
tending the  warm  welcome  of  Americans  to 
Americans. 


456680 


CLOSING    ADDRESS, 

Delivered  in  the  Hall  of  the  International  American  Confer- 
ence, April  19,  1890. 


Gentlemen  :  I  withhold  for  a  moment  the 
word  of  final  adjournment,  in  order  that  I  may 
express  to  you  the  profound  satisfaction  with 
which  the  Government  of  the  United  States  re- 
gards the  work  that  has  been  accomplished  by 
the  International  American  Conference.  The 
importance  of  the  subjects  which  have  claimed 
your  attention,  the  comprehensive  intelligence 
and  watchful  patriotism  which  you  have  brought 
to  their  discussion,  must  challenge  the  confi- 
dence and  secure  the  admiration  of  the  govern- 
ments and  peoples  whom  you  represent;  while 
that  larger  patriotism  which  constitutes  the 
fraternity  of  nations  has  received  from  you  an 
impulse  such  as  the  world  has  not  before  seen. 


10 


1 1 

The  extent  and  value  of  all  that  has  been 
worthily  achieved  by  your  Conference  can  not 
be  measured  to-day.  We  stand  too  near  it. 
Time  will  define  and  heighten  the  estimate  of 
your  work  ;  experience  will  confirm  our  pres- 
ent faith  ;  final  results  will  be  your  vindication 
and  your  triumph. 

If,  in  this  closing  hour,  the  Conference  had 
but  one  deed  to  celebrate,  we  should  dare  call 
the  world's  attention  to  the  deliberate,  confi- 
dent, solemn  dedication  of  two  great  continents 
to  Peace  and  to  the  prosperity  which  has 
Peace  for  its  foundation.  We  hold  up  this  new 
Magna  Charta,  which  abolishes  war  and  substi- 
tutes Arbitration  between  the  American  Repub- 
lics, as  the  first  and  great  fruit  of  the  Interna- 
tional American  Conference !  That  noblest  of 
Americans,  the  aged  poet  and  philanthropist 
Whittier,  is  the  first  to  send  his  salutation  and 
his  benediction,   declaring:   "If  in  the  spirit  of 


12 


peace  the  American  Conference  agrees  upon  a 
rule  of  Arbitration  which  shall  make  war  in  this 
hemisphere  well-nigh  impossible,  its  session 
will  prove  one  of  the  most  important  events 
in  the  history  of  the  world." 

May  I  express  to  you,  gentlemen,  my  deep 
appreciation  of  the  honor  you  did  me  in  calling 
me  to  preside  over  your  deliberations.  Your 
kindness  has  been  unceasing,  and  for  your 
words  of  approval  I  offer  you  my  sincerest 
crratitude. 

Invoking  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God  upon 
the  patriotic  and  fraternal  work  which  has  been 
here  begun  for  the  good  of  mankind,  I  now 
declare  the  International  American  Conference 
adjourned  without  day. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

AT 
LOS  ANGELES 

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UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 
Los  Angeles 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


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